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Johan Zulch de Villiers (12 July 1845 – 18 July 1910) was a South African politician and attorney. He was mayor of Johannesburg from 1897 to 1900.

Life

Johan Zulch de Villiers was born in 1845 in Paarl, Cape Colony. He was educated at the Paarl gymnasium as well as privately by Dr. Rose Innes at Cape Town. For fifteen months he joined the Orange Free State forces in the Basuto Gun War. He passed as an attorney and was an advocate of the High Court. He then entered civil service becoming the private secretary to President Johannes Brand. Between 1881 and 1897 de Villiers was the landdrost of several towns including Pretoria, Barberton and Lydenburg. He also worked in Swaziland. The government appointed him as the first mayor (Dutch: burgemeester) of Johannesburg on 1 October 1897. The first meeting of the town council was held on 4 October 1897. He was the mayor until Johannesburg's surrender to Frederick Roberts on 31 May 1900 during the Second Boer War. The British then appointed Colonel Walter Alfred John O'Meara as the new mayor and administrator of the city. De Villiers died in Pretoria in 1910 at the age of 65.

Personal life

He is a member of the de Villiers family who are of French Huguenot descent. On 1 November 1870 he married Susanna Margaretha de Villiers, the first cousin of John de Villiers, 1st Baron de Villiers. They had 8 children: Rachel Gerhardina, Secondus Petrus, Anna Matilda, Margaretha, Johan Zulch Voight, George Ferdinan Esselen, Ludowicus van der Merwe, and Septima Elizabeth Bland. His daughter Anna Matilda later married George Wreford Hudson, the master and registrar of the Swaziland court.

See also

• History of Johannesburg

References

1. Meiring 1976, p. 32.
2. ^ Barrett 1884, p. 40.
3. "General information Joburg Mayors". Joburg. Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
4. Jones 1993, p. 88.
5. Bulpin 1955, p. 240.
6. Shorten 1970, p. 1093.
7. Van Riebeeck Society 1986, p. 102.
8. Fraser 1985, p. 102.
9. Raugh 2004, p. 202.
10. Phillips 1977, p. 383.
11. ^ "Death Notice of Johan Zulch de Villiers". Geni. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
12. De Villiers 1960, p. 95.
13. Royal Colonial Institute 1894, p. 498.

Sources

• Barrett, R. J. (1884). The Anglo-African Who's who and Biographical Sketch-book. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
• Royal Colonial Institute (1894). Proceedings: Volume 25. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
• Bulpin, Thomas Victor (1955). Storm Over the Transvaal. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
• De Villiers, Daniel Peter (1960). A History of the De Villiers Family. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
• Shorten, John R. (1970). The Johannesburg Saga. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
• Meiring, Piet (1976). Dynamite and Daisies: The Story of Barberton. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
• Fraser, Maryna (1985). Johannesburg Pioneer Journals, 1888–1909. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
• Van Riebeeck Society (1986). VRS. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
• Jones, Huw M. Jones (1993). A Biographical Register of Swaziland to 1902. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
• Phillips, Lionel (1977). All that Glittered Selected Correspondence of Lionel Phillips, 1890–1924. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
• Raugh, Harold E. (2004). The Victorians at War, 1815–1914 An Encyclopedia of British Military History. Retrieved 7 October 2021.

• Mayors of Johannesburg
• 1845 births
• 1910 deaths
• People from Paarl
• South African people of French descent
• Afrikaner people
• Cape Colony lawyers
• South African Republic politicians
• People of the Basuto Gun War